Q&A with FreshBooks Online Invoicing and Tracking

While at the HOW Design Conference last week, CMSWire had the pleasure of meeting the guys at FreshBooks, an online invoicing and time tracking service. Once the chaos of the exhibit hall and breakout sessions was behind us, we had the opportunity to ask a few questions to Sunir Shah and Saul Colt, both members of Marketing and Community Development at FreshBooks. CMSWire: What is FreshBooks? When was it released? FB: Originally released in 2003, FreshBooks is an online invoicing, time tracking and expense tracking service designed with the client service and creative professional in mind. FreshBooks gives it users the tools to get paid quicker, make more money and look more professional. CMSWire: What are the features of FreshBooks? FB: Users can: * Easily create, send and manage invoices * Track time (for you and staff) and expenses * Send invoices by snail mail or email * Accept payment with PayPal, Authorize.Net, & more * Automatically send invoices & late payment notices * Create robust reports and import/export your data

Create an Estimate

Time Tracking

Track your time from your desktop

Expense Tracking

CMSWire: Are there any upcoming releases? FB: We have a lot of exciting new releases coming including one coming in the next month that will be a game changer in this space but unfortunately, I can’t talk about these releases until they are ready. CMSWire: Who uses FreshBooks? FB: FreshBooks users come from all walks of life and span many industries including Web Developers, Web Designers, Internet Marketers, Graphic Artists, Dog Walkers and just about any other service that can be performed by freelancers and independent consultants. CMSWire: How many users does FreshBooks have? FB: Currently we service 400,000+ users and that number has grown from 350,000 in just 5 months. CMSWire: How much does FreshBooks cost? FB: FreshBooks is a free service for anyone who wishes to use it to invoice three clients or less. Once you grown your business our first paying package costs $14 dollars a month and will allow you to invoice up to 25 clients and there are larger packages from there. CMSWire: What kind of technical support is offered to customers? FB: We take our support pretty seriously, not because our service is tricky to grasp but because we love our customers and want to hear what they have to say. One of the more interesting things about FreshBooks support is that everyone in the company does it. When you call with a question you have as much a chance of speaking to the CEO or CFO as you do the HR or Marketing staff. This allows us to not only listen and know our customers but also to not lose sight of what makes FreshBooks different and unique. CMSWire: Many reviews of FreshBooks have highlighted positively on the user experience of the application. How important is usability and how has it influenced the idea behind FreshBooks? FB: User Experience and Usability is very important to us and has been since day one because FreshBooks was actually designed by the Co-Founder Michael McDerment to be used by himself in his internet marketing firm. Mike was frustrated by losing an invoice due to hitting “save” and not “save as” while making an invoice in MS Word and the rest is history. Because FreshBooks was born out of a need for the person designing it and not developed intentionally for commercial use more attention was given to making it simple and easy to use. Learn more about FreshBooks via their Website at www.freshbooks.com or via their blog: www.freshbooks.com/blog. You can also take a full tour via www.freshbooks.com/tour.php.